Apple CEO says game changers in development to boost lineup

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, seeking to quell concerns about the company’s ability to innovate in consumer electronics, said his staff “has several more game changers” in the pipeline.

The iPhone maker has “some incredible plans,” Cook said yesterday in an onstage interview at the D: All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. He singled out television and wearable computing as areas of interest.

Apple hasn’t released a new product since October, turning up pressure on Cook to debut something fresh to reignite sales growth. Less than two years after succeeding Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Cook’s tenure has been marked more by controversies -- including criticism of the company’s tax practices and labor standards in China -- than by blockbuster gadgets. Since September, he’s had to contend with a stock slide.

“What we have to do is focus on products,” Cook said. “If we do that right, if we make great products that enrich people’s lives, then the other things will happen.”

In his clearest indication yet that Apple is considering electronics that can adorn the body, Cook said that wearable computing could be a “profound area,” and that the wrist is particularly “interesting.”

TV ‘Vision’

Cook took a dig at Google Inc.’s Glass, a computer for the eyes, saying that such devices might struggle to go mainstream.

“People that do wear them generally want them to be light, to be unobtrusive,” Cook said of eyeware. “They probably want them to reflect their fashion.”

Apple has a “grand vision” for television, which remains an area of interest, Cook said. It has sold more than 13 million units of the Apple TV set-top box, exceeding internal expectations, Cook said.

The iPhone maker’s stock has fallen 37% from a record in September through yesterday and 17% this year amid questions about whether the company can unveil a device to match the success of the iPhone and iPad. The company posted its first profit decline in a decade in the most recent quarter and said a growth slowdown will persist until new products debut later this year. Apple rose less than 1% to $444.73 at 9:57 a.m. in New York.